


Forest Sprite

by FreakyVintageWallpapers



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Not Beta Read, they are bffs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:00:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24872677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreakyVintageWallpapers/pseuds/FreakyVintageWallpapers
Summary: What if Gilbert sought Anne out after Mr.Phillips' cruel display?
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 5
Kudos: 67





	Forest Sprite

Anne sniffed pitifully, chinned tucked to her chest. It seemed Mother Nature was conforming to her mood. The late summer sky hung thick with storm clouds, waiting for their chance to shower the citizens of Avon Lea. The flowers paled without the sun and the wind bit at the children running from the school house just as she bit her lip to stifle her sobs. If her imagination could overcome the shame inside, she could have spent the afternoon imagining she was a forest fairy, controlling the weather of Avonlea. And the wicked children were ogres and mean sprites that wished her harm, and the rain was their punishment. They’d be forced in their homes and away from their play, just as they had done to her. Instead the embarrassment crept up as a thick lump in her throat that refused to move. 

She hadn’t run far, just past the river and towards the forest path that took her to Green Gables. But the thought that she might have to face Marilla and Matthew made her stomach feel as though it were an acrobat. She ducked herself into a thicket of bushes, shadowed by the trees and dense enough that the other children couldn’t see her as they made their way home. She wanted to rush out and find Diana, hold her friends tender hand to her cheek so that she might brush away her tears. 

But even she had watched the display of aggression towards Gilbert. She harmed him, all over the fact that he called her ‘carrots.’ It wasn’t even creative, she had heard worse, but even as she cried under the trees it made her heart clench. Another sob wrenched itself from her chest and doubled over, pressing her forehead into her knees. 

Ruby must hate her now. Which meant Nancy and Tilly hated her, along with Prissy. If all the girls hated her, then the boys would also keep their distance as to not upset them. It was enough that Josie Pye had grown to dislike her, but the entire class would too. And she would truly be all alone. Her whole body shook as she truly began to cry in earnest. 

“There you are,” a soft voice cooed. Anne yelped looking up to see that her face was mere inches away from someone else's. She scrambled back until she was pressed against a large pine tree. Gilbert stayed crouched, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. He looked as if he were a wounded animal. A kicked puppy is more like it. 

“Wha- What are you doing here?” Her voice grew more menacing as the shock faded. Gilbert eyed her, watching the panic leak from her body. Her eyes were red and puffy, cheeks flushed, and her lip swollen. Slowly, he reached out to wipe a stray tear from her cheek. Her heart was beating so fast that she couldn’t tell if she should run or bite his hand off for even thinking he could touch her. 

“Don’t.”

“I got it, don’t worry.” His voice was soft. And even though he was the most despicable human being in existence, she couldn’t help but take solace in it. She had expected his hand to be more soft, but it was rough against her cheek. 

Farming hands. She reminded herself. They were neighbors, he worked just like she did. She wondered what she felt like under his thumb. Had the tears turned her skin dry or was it soft like the silk sheets tucked on the highest shelf of the Cuthbert’s linens closet?

“I’m sorry,” they both said at once. Despite herself she laughed as he stuttered over another apology. She brought her knees to her chest, her hands gripping the tips of her boots.

“I shouldn’t have hit you. I’m-”

“But I shouldn’t have provoked you it was-”

“I didn’t want to talk to you though-”

“I didn’t know what I had done wrong I-”

“But it’s not what you did, it’s what I did-”

“What you did?” he raised an eyebrow. She let out a shuddering breath, though it came out as a hard rasp. Her throat hurt and was not in the condition for so much arguing especially after her crying fit. 

“Oh, here, sorry. It’s still cold, I only just grabbed it. I didn’t finish it all.” He passed her his bottle of milk, still ice cold from the river. She nodded her thanks and undid the lid and took a long drink. For a boy so rude, he was awful nice. The girls all liked him well enough, they seemed like friends, but her friendship with him seemed like sin on earth. Ruby had cried so sorrowfully over the fact that they had been on the same trail at school, they hadn’t even truly walked together.

She thought maybe he pestered her because he just didn’t like her. Then why would he be so keen on sharing when everyone else avoided her touch? Being an orphan wasn’t contagious but they all acted as though she were carrying the plague. And he had saved her from Billy Andrew’s the truly most rotten, most despicable, absolutely horrible, boy on the planet. Walked her to school and offered to share food from his family’s farm. Gilbert Bylthe was an angel compared to him. But it was his fault the girls in her class were mad at her! If he had just minded his distance- 

How could he have known the girls would throw a fit? She pulled her lips away and shushed her brain. 

“What was that?” Gilbert asked, only growing more curious as her cheeks grew red. He crawled next to her and collapsed against the tree trunk with a heavy sigh.

“My brain is too loud at the moment.” She sighed. She went to pass the bottle but he gently wrapped his hand around her and nudged it back. 

“Finish it. We have plenty at home I assure you. Besides, you sound like you need it.” He smiled at her, his voice playful as it had been when he tried to get her attention. Well, there was that teasing again, but it wasn't a bad teasing. Was there a good teasing? She didn’t know. 

She took her time finishing the bottle, and Gilbert waited patiently next to her. 

Maybe Gilbert isn’t the problem.

“Can you not quiet down?” She mumbled, wrapping her arms stubbornly around her legs.   
“I hadn’t realized I was vexing you so. I’ll try to exist more quietly.” Gilbert smirked down at her. She glared and shoved the bottle a little too roughly into his chest. He was going to make a passing comment about how red haired girls always seemed to have a fierce temper, but the dull ache in his chest and his head was enough to remind him to keep his thoughts to himself. 

“So, you said it was you that did the wrong thing.” He looked out at the fallen leaves puddled around them. Pink blossoms grew between them. 

“I’m beginning to think maybe school is the wrong thing. There are too many rules that no one ever writes down, and everyone seems to have them memorized yet I’m still learning them all. Maybe that’s my problem. I don’t know anything. I shouldn’t have talked to you. I wronged the girls.” She groaned before resting her chin on her knee. 

“I mean, no one tells you who is off limits, or who has liked who for however many years. No one tells you what to say, or what to keep to yourself. And even when they do tell you to keep sharing, you get in trouble for saying what you said. It’s all very confusing,” She sighed.

“It is indeed.” Gilbert furrowed his brows. He was having a hard time following.

“And it’s not like we even walked together, we just happened to be going in the same direction. Ruby shouldn’t have gotten upset. If I had known, I wouldn’t have even told you my name.”

“Ruby told you not to talk to me?”

“No, well, yes, but really Josie Pye did.”

Gilbert couldn’t help but laugh through his confusion, “Start at the beginning Anne.”

She heaved a great sigh but complied.

“Well, Ruby has liked you for many years, and I couldn’t have known that! I didn’t even know you existed until this morning. And she was so upset we had walked together- Which doesn’t even count! I ran more than we talked. Now all the girls are cross with me. They saw you at lunch and then I hit you and now they definitely hate me. Then Mr. Phillips made a huge unjustified spectacle and now I continue to be the laughing stock of Avonlea all because I’ve never been to a real school and had I known it would be like this I wouldn’t have yearned for this for so many years and-”

“I think I understand now.” Gilbert interrupted. He worried she might explode if she had to speak for a second longer. “The girls are cross with you for talking to me.”

“I didn’t want to complicate things like this. I shouldn’t have even told you Ruby likes you.” She turned her head to look at him. He thought she looked so small, so different than when she was reading. She had commanded the room then, like when she had stormed out of the school house. They sat in silence, the only sounds were the birds, singing too cheerful songs for such a solemn moment.

“To me, it sounds like they were the ones who complicated things. They don’t dictate who talks to me, and you shouldn’t let them either.”

As if it were that simple. 

“You don’t understand. If you were to start talking to me, all the boys would still like you and the girls would like you too. But they’d hate me. Well, Diana might still like me, though only in secret. But other than her, I would have no other friends to speak of.”

“Then I'll just stop liking them.” He stood and stretched his hand out to her. She let herself be pulled up though she wasn’t quite ready to leave her place of hiding.

“If they won’t accept you for being a free person then I won’t let them accept me. I guess we’ll just have to be each other’s friend.” He said matter of factly. Anne froze, the lump in her throat suddenly vanished and replaced with the burning tightness she felt right before she might cry. Her dearest Diana didn’t even offer to do that for her. Gilbert Blythe would rather face social ruin than to be without her friendship. And just an hour ago she had cracked him over the head with her slate. 

“Really?” she murmured. He only responded with a smile, her hand still tight in her’s. 

“I saw where you’d run off too. I would have gotten here sooner but I thought you’d prefer it if everyone were gone when you came to get your things.”

“You knew I'd come back with you?” Gilbert Blythe was too perfect. Maybe he was the real forest sprite. All knowing, and very charming. She eyed him suspiciously, his ears were just tad pointy. 

“No, but I had hoped. Come along, Carrots.” His chuckle was interrupted by a sharp kick in the shin, but it only made him double over with laughter. The sun peeked through the clouds, making the pink blossoms shine like lanterns leading them to the path home.


End file.
